Negative Optical Inertia in Optomechanical Systems

A method of improving the sensitivity of laser-interferometer-based gravitational-wave detectors by using double (two-frequency) optical pumping is proposed. Proper selection of the optical parameters of each pump wave allows implementation of the so-called "negative inertia," that is, an increase in the detector''s mechanical response to an external force in a wide frequency range, which is equivalent to the reduction of the inertial masses of the test bodies of the detector, while their gravitational masses remain the same. This effect allows overcoming the standard quantum limit of sensitivity for a free mass in a wide frequency range due to an enhanced signal response, rather than due to the mutual compensation of quantum noises, as in other methods. The advantage of the proposed method is its much higher immunity to the noise caused by optical losses as compared to schemes based on mutual compensation of quantum noises. A practical scheme of the gravitational-wave detector based on the "negative-inertia" effect is explored, and a set of optimal optical parameters facilitating achieving a maximum signal-to-noise ratio for the main types of astrophysical gravitational-wave sources is obtained. DOI: 10.1134/S0030400X12030216